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3 year dreadiversary!

It is crazy that I have had my dreadlocks for three entire years. I honestly haven’t had any real moments of desperation when I wanted to chop them off, and I also don’t have any regret about my decision to have this hairstyle. You can read about my thoughts last year here, where I discussed my first couple of years with my locks. They have come sooo far!

I most often get asked : How do you wash them? I think that is a funny question. There is no secret way to wash my hair. I use soap and water. When I say that people think I must be not saying the whole truth. But honestly, I don’t get a ton of comments about my hair from strangers. In fact, when I do it always surprises me or catches me off guard.

This past summer I went to Jamaica. Now, when I went to that country I got SO MANY COMMENTS about my hair. It seemed as though every Jamaican I came across called me ‘the white rasta girl’. I was relieved that they embraced and enjoyed my hair. I wasn’t sure if it would be offensive. One thing I really wanted to do while there was have a Jamaican work on my hair. I met a woman on the beach and I paid her to clean my hair up a bit.

She did clean my hair up, but she also cut off any extra lose strands. She insisted it would never dread. I am sure she is right, but I would have liked to have it left a little more ‘natural’. After she did my hair, it was also so.very.tight. I got a horrible headache. I am glad for the experience, but I do think I learned a lot about what I want and don’t want from my hair. I don’t want it to look ‘perfect’. I am okay with lose hair, and I hate headaches on vacations:)

It is finally getting LONG! I am so excited about this. When I finally could put it in a ‘proper’ bun I was so excited Instagrammed the moment:)

I also wanted to share one last photograph. Last month I went to Orlando for a retreat for moms parenting trauma. In my villa of nine women, FIVE of us had dreadlocks! Crazy right?! We are all very kindred spirits, indeed.

So there you go. Three years later, as a dread head mama:)

Tags: 3 year dreadiversary, dread head mama, dreadlocks, natural dreadlocks, rasta girl, soap and water

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Categories dreadlocks

dreadlove

6 Feb

I added a little pink yarn to my hair yesterday. I was channeling my inner-native-princess. I am happy with the results and am now debating adding a few more colors. Like turquoise. And red. Thoughts?

I enjoyed this post yesterday, which I read a few hours after I had added the pink, so I guess hair was just on my mind. Ha.

Okay. Happy Wednesday friends. I just responded to a blog reader, who had emailed me a sweet note, and told her I hoped she could steal a few moments away today, even if in the driveway in her car, to breathe and remember that she is lovely.

I wish the same for you.

xoxo

Tags: beauty, dreadheadmama, dreadlocks, hair, style

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Categories dreadlocks

2 year dreadiversary!

12 Apr

It is crazy to think I have had my little dreadlocks for 2 entire years. Part of me feels like I have always had them, the other part wakes up in the morning wondering where my hair went. I have dreaded two times before in my life, and both involved a bunch of wax and basically everything else that was a big no-no. This time I went to an expert {not that my mom didn’t try,!}.

{my first ‘after’ shot!}

I had them put in by a wonderful lady in Portland who worked at a little shop and did dread perms. I know there is controversy on this ‘method’ but I was willing to pay some money to get them to stick this time. My hair, although a little curly is still pretty fine. And a dread perm was perfect for giving it the coarseness I needed for it to actually dread.

I wasn’t even going to go, actually. I had been telling Jer that for my 30th birthday I was going to take the plunge and do it. He said that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. That life is short and why wait 2 years for what my heart really wants today?

He is a smart guy that jerber.

So he drove me down for my 28th birthday, and even held our 5 month old baby the 5 hours I was with the miracle worker.

It looks so undreaded then,huh? Well after this I didn’t wash it for 8 weeks.When I finally did, I did another controversial thing {but what the girl at the salon recommended} and got myself a little felting needle at the craft store and started felting my hair. I was so excited I started at like 4 am the morning after I got the needle and didn’t stop till I had felted all of my little baby dreadlocks.

{Here they are after my first felting.}

Well, after this I promptly forgot I had dreadlocks for approximately one year. Funny, but I don’t have a single picture of this time of just my hair. They really were not apart of my everyday life. They still aren’t. They are a piece of me. A piece that speaks to my heart, but they have a healthy place in my life.

Finally last summer I had Bela take a handful of pictures of my locks. And they look so different after a year!

I had a few feathers put in while I was in Maui and they are still hanging in there! I love the subtle burst of blue.

This is in January. I have a lovely dread ‘halo’ of lose hairs most always, and that is what they really are about for me. Letting go. Being okay with the crazy, the mess. AND I JUST LOVE THEM!

This was a picture taken in March in Orlando with my dread sisters:) Jer got me the pretty white flower bead for Christmas in my stocking. Aww….

I do think some additional color woven in would be fun, but no rush. That will happen when it is supposed to.

I feel like they are finally getting some length, which I am happy about. For a long time I just felt like they were constantly shrinking everytime I washed them. Also, it is interesting how how I used to be so concerned with how I washed them, how I slept in them. Now, I am very flexible with it all. If I am out of the house and feel like I want to wash them, I grab a bar of soap and wash with that. At home I use a simple baking soda/water solution and rinse with ACV. If I am out of those staples and there is a tear free bottle of kid shampoo I will use that. It is all about ease, about letting go. About not worrying about the lady at the grocery store pointing. Haha.

No, seriously.

I am so happy I did this 2 years ago and am not starting my dread journey now:) Life is short, ya know?!

Tags: 2 year dreadiversary, being brave, dreadiversay, dreadlocks, messy dreadlocks

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Categories dreadlocks, lovelymessy, that crazy lady

crazy lady v.5.0

29 Feb

This week:

1. I made toast under the broiler. At 10pm. The kids were in bed and I was waiting for Jer to come home so I thought, obviously, I should make some toast. He came home to all the doors flung open, smoke billowing all around me and the very first thing he said to me was, You should take a picture crazy lady. So I did.. Man, I must have been pretty engrossed in Glee to not even notice till the smoke made it’s way to the living room!

2. Yesterday was a holy day in our home. One that requires a moment of silence. I FINISHED ALL THE LAUNDRY IN OUR HOUSEHOLD. And folded it. And put it away in actual drawers, as opposed to giant piles on beds that then get thrown to the ground at bedtime that then unintentionally get put back in the dirty clothes pile. But that wasn’t the part I wanted to talk about. After all the laundry was done I did an even more remarkable thing. I sat and paired up EVERY SINGLE SOCK. And then, the leftovers, those pesky leftovers that have been in that same bin for over 2 years, had a ceremonious death:

It was the first fire we have ever had in that fireplace and I must say it was a moment of truth, of clarity- I declare to never, ever have so many unmatched socks again that I must light them all on fire.

It was epic. And the children thought Dad and I were pretty varsity. Here’s a trick: If your kids think you are kinda lame, or you want to prove to them you are super cool- light something on fire. Seriosuly. It will work. And I have had my fun with fire in the past. I remember something about gasoline circles and driving through the flames in high school. Thank goodness there were no cell phone cameras back then, I would have SO been grounded!

3.It was crazy hair day at the kids’ school. Bela went with the pink and blue hair route, but Moses didn’t want that. So he decided to put clothes pins all over his head. He thought it was a touch more masculine:) I am proud of their choices.

4. I leave tomorrow for ORLANDO! Last night I dreamt that all my dreadlocks fell out and I was searching the Goodwill before I left for a scarf for my naked head. IS THE UNIVERSE TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING?!?!?

5. Speaking of ORLANDO, yesterday I packed my bag. Or at least tried too. Somehow in the midst of all my clean clothes I forgot how to put an outfit together. I had all my clean clothes sitting on my bed, but I couldn’t remember how to match jeans with a shirt. I am not joking. Does this happen to you when you pack? I mean, I know I have outfits because I wear them everyday. The same thing happens when I try and sit down and menu plan. I know I make meals every day but somehow when I try to think of 7 consecutive ones I find myself googling :What To Make For Dinner. It is so strange. And then I decide to make weird things like sloppy joes because that is what google says even though I would never, ever make them.

And regarding clothes at one pointI thought, oh I guess I can bring this giant orange and white mumu to wear. Ok, that has been in my closet for a year never worn once.Because even though I thought it was cool when I found it at the Goodwill, the fact is I went to Vegas and Maui and never once wore it because it looks hideous on- but for some reason I thought, oh, ‘When I go meet 90 strangers in Florida THIS is the perfect time to test drive this baby’. NO ANYA, NO! PUT THE MUMU DOWN!

What crazy thing has happened to you this week?

Love,The Crazy Lady

Tags: clothes pins, crazy hair day, dirty clothes, dreadlocks, first fire, grocery, moment of silence, that crazy lady, unmatched socks

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Categories dreadlocks, lovelymessy, moses, that crazy lady

friday five spot.

11 Nov

1. I am utterly happy for this 3 day weekend. A few things planned- like Festival of Hope, a fair trade holiday marketplace with my dear friend and book club dissecting this book.But lots of free time in between!

2. I was able to spend some time talking through the story I am currently working on. My husband had lots of great feedback and I was reminded how wonderful talking things out can be to help bring you to a place your heart already was. I feel brave in my new direction and I *already* knew it, but it is so hard to say ‘I’m going to scratch all that work and start at the place it needs to start.’

3.I have been drinking a TON of water lately. I am amazed at two things. 1)How much I pee and 2) How good it makes me feel.

4. I have given up on shampoo altogether and now wash my dreads with baking soda and apple cider vinegar only. Even my bangs. I miss the suds, but I am amazed at how good they feel.

5. I am longing for my summer in Maui and look how *tan I was*! We are brainstorming about summer plans and are thinking of joining some friends here. Any one been, thoughts, opinions, please share!